How to Delete and Reinstall Apple’s Built-in Apps in iOS 10

Among the new features included in Apple’s iOS 10 is the ability to finally delete Apple’s built-in apps.

Sure, Apple’s apps are well-designed and handy. But if you have a certain app preference — like Google Maps or Waze over Apple Maps, for example — then, the ability to remove the Apple apps can help you stay organized and clutter-free. It can also save some storage space on your phone, especially for apps that you don’t use all that much. If you literally never check the Stocks app, for example, then it’s pretty much just taking up some precious megabytes.

Some recent versions of iOS even have storage-heavy apps like Keynote, Pages, Sheets, and GarageBand built-in. These are amazing applications with tons of features, but if you don’t use them on your iPhone, they are serious space hogs — GarageBand can clock in around 1 gigabyte, and even more with app data.

In any case, and whatever your reason, you can delete Apple stock apps in iOS 10 by following these steps.

Tap and hold the app in question until all of the apps jiggle.

When they do, tap the X icon next to the app.

Tap the Remove option.

Press the Home button to return the apps back to normal.

Of course, even if you delete an Apple app, it’s not gone forever. You still technically “own” it, so you can re-download it from the App Store at any time.

Open the App Store.

Search for the app that you want to re-install.

Tap the cloud download icon to re-download the app.

Wait for the app to install on your phone.

Open the app.

A potential word of warning, though: deleting certain stock apps will affect some iPhone features and functionality. For example, removing the Stocks or Weather app from your Home screen removes their information from the Notification Center. It’s nothing major, but it’s worth noting. A list of side effects caused by deleting stock apps can be found here.